Those who lost materials during Hurricane Helene are invited to Folkmoot, in Waynesville, on Saturday, December 7, from 12–7 p.m. for an Art Supply Pickup and Open House. “We want any artists who lost materials due to Helene to come and get what they need to start creating again,” says Clay Sayre, who, with Patricia Sweet, organized the event. Both are artists and, with Patricia’s daughter Alison Shea Hernandez, share studio space at Folkmoot.
Tables loaded with supplies will line the long hallway of the old school building that is owned by the non-profit Folkmoot USA and houses art studios and community meeting spaces. To gather supplies, Sayre and Sweet relied mainly on word of mouth. “Patricia hit up fellow artists on her most recent plein air events, and they really came through for us,” Sayre says. “We have a lot of canvases, paint supplies, sketch pads, copies of PleinAir magazine, and even a new Cricut machine and supplies. There are high-quality items for drawing, painting, mixed media, sculpture and more.”
From left, Clay Sayre, Dorie Scherma and Patricia Sweet. Scherma displays her work, In the Midst of it All, recovered after the flood by one of Sayre’s art students
Donations arrived from all over the eastern US from the couple’s friends and fellow artists as well as from major companies.
Sweet works primarily as a plein air painter specializing in luminist landscapes, Hernandez creates vibrant-toned paintings of animals and landscapes and Sayre creates 2D and 3D works that focus on faces and emotions. The artists offer adult and youth classes and paint parties at their Folkmoot studio.
Sweet and Sayre recently experienced a bit of serendipity in the wake of Hurricane Helene. A former student of Sayre’s, while taking photographs of flood damage, found an intact painting titled In the Midst of it All. They contacted the artist, Dorie Scherma, who came to Folkmoot to be reunited with her painting that miraculously survived being destroyed by the storm.
“Patricia lost work in Marquee and we both were so heartbroken that we felt a need to do something,” Sayre says. “You don’t come through something like this and not be moved. We just felt that the displaced artists needed actual materials to get back on their feet and we thought that’s something we could help with.”
The Folkmoot Friendship Center is located at 112 Virginia Avenue, Waynesville. Learn more about the event on Instagram (patriciasweetartist).
